It was not accurate to what was listed and more than one of the amenities were missing even when they were listed as included. For the first time ever I had to contact Airbnb for help via AirCover, and Airbnb agreed to the apartment was not as expected, so they approved me going to a hotel so I could rest and find a new place to stay. It was a rather serious situation to go through a very long journey halfway across the globe only to find the airbnb apartment to be not as expected.
The most serious things I reacted to were these:
First of all, there were absolutely no house manual present. No instructions whatsoever. Completely confusing.
1. It said 'luxury condo' in the headline, but on closer inspection it was quite worn down inside and there was a very strong odor that was overwhelming. It smelled like greasy scalp in the bedroom, it felt very uncomfortable breathing in the smell.
2.I wanted to have a shower when I arrived after a really long journey, and towels had been listed as included on the time of booking, but I would soon find out there were no towels and I was completely desperate not knowing what to do in the new big city being completely exhausted and worn out. I asked the host about it and he replied that they 'usually' do not provide towels for guests which two I replied that it was listed as one of the amenities. He told me everything I needed was in the bedroom closet. I found a couple of old towels in the closet and put them in the washing machine because I couldn't bear thinking about using the towels as they smelled really bad. Then the washing machine started leaking all over the kitchen floor as if I didn't already have enough problems.
3. Leaky washing machine
4. No tumble dryer -even though it was listed. I asked the host where the dryer was, and he kept saying there was a dryer there but I found out that he was talking about the hairdryer. It felt weird that I had to explain to the host that he had included both hairdryer and dryer in the airbnb listing.
5. There were stains in various places throughout the apartment like on the sofa after someone having sat there, and a big sweat stain on the headboard of the bed that was made of fabric so the stain looked like it was back sweat that had soaked in to the headboard do you play, I noticed it in the photos and asked the host about it before arriving, and he had assured me that he would have a cleaning personnel checking it out before I arrived. But to my disappointment the stain was still there when I arrived. I was told a cleaning lady had tried to scrub and wash it off, but clearly that stain would need industrial cleaning or maybe be reupholstered or replaced. And there were splattered stains on the bedroom door and on the bedroom wall above the bed as well (there appeared to be scrub marks as it had been made an attempt of locally cleaning handprints off the wall but I could clearly see the uneven marks in the daylight ) also mucky stains on the bathroom door threshold. There were also some brown ingrown muck in the sink around the drain hole. And the tile mortar in the shower was cracked and shabby looking (i'm taking into consideration that the listing said luxury condo)
6. The bedding was absolutely awful because it had no sheets and it was filled with small spots of dark mystery stains, some white starchy dried stuff (don't want to think of it) and body hairs everywhere. It was absolutely terrible to think of laying down in that even with feeling dirty after a long journey because then I would just feel even more dirty because I wasn't be able to take a shower after laying in it and that made my skin crawl. And when I asked the host about sheets and bedding he answered me that they 'usually' do not provide that for guests, which upon I replied that it had been listed in the Airbnb listing. He said he would send the cleaning lady with sheets and bedding later in the evening. She came about 9:30 PM in the evening but I had arrived about 12 PM so I had to wait the entire day without being able to have a proper rest after coming from traveling for 24 hours straight it felt unbearable.
The only good things I can say is that the host was fast at responding to messages. (Not that it helps when the information given is not very accurate)
The reason why I find all of these lackings to be so serious is because I had booked for a whole month and I had spent a lot of time doing research on where to stay, and what area to live in and amenities I needed before booking. All the hours I spent researching was completely wasted and it took me about one week to recover after that incident because I had to start all over again doing research and orienting myself and familiarizing myself with a completely new host and place to stay etc. When I make plans I make them so that things can go smoothly, I always make loads of research before I do things because I travel alone so it's extra important to me that things are on par. There was only one toilet roll as well which was a bit strange. And no trash cans!!! Not one trash can in the whole place. Very odd.
The fact that AirBnb agreed to put me up in a hotel on the first day of my arrival says something about the severity of my situation.
I am very grateful I got help, and just in